The Hinderaker-Ward Experience, Episode 24: This Poll Is a Joke

Brian Ward and I recorded Episode 24 of the Hinderaker-Ward experience last night. We talked about some of the hottest issues in the news, including the Senate Democrats’ dereliction of duty in refusing to adopt a budget; the GSA bacchanalia scandal; the 2012 presidential race, including our assessment of Mitt Romney’s performance so far as reflected in the poll data, about which Brian and I disagreed rather sharply; and much more, including my recent vacation and our efforts to get our taxes filed on time.

We interviewed Wall Street Journal contributor and author Mark Yost about his new thriller Soft Target. Soft Target features a terrorist attack on Chicago. This is Amazon’s description of the book:

Nick Mattera is a former Marine Corps bomb squad technician who survived four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He’s come home to his Italian-American neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side and becomes one of the fire department’s young hotshots. But Nick never expected to run into Abdullah and Jhalil.

The two al Qaeda terrorists have come to Chicago with one goal in mind: indiscriminately kill Jewish Americans and open up a whole new front in the War on Terror. Adding to Nick’s troubles are Jack Weinstein, an opportunistic politician who wants to close Nick’s firehouse, and Rachel Cohen, Weinstein’s sexy legislative aide who has eyes for Nick and doubts about her boss.

The story that unfolds in “Soft Target” is best described as Tom Clancy meets Backdraft. Mark Yost is himself a firefighter/paramedic and gives readers an unparalleled look at life inside a firehouse. More importantly, he shows just how easy it would be for two dedicated extremists to use America’s open society against it and carry out these dastardly missions. When readers finish “Soft Target,” they’ll be anxiously awaiting the next book in the Nick Mattera Series, and nervously asking themselves, “Why hasn’t something like this really happened here?”

Most remarkably, you can buy Soft Target on Amazon for only $2.99. I haven’t read it yet, but Brian highly recommends it.

We wrapped up the show by presenting our Loon of the Week and This Week In Gatekeeping awards. Arlen Specter–is he the oldest LOTW winner? Might be–was this week’s Loon by virtue of his likening Mitt Romney to a female porn star. TWIG went to a newspaper that confused a Yugoslavian mass murder of the 1930s with a contemporary fashion model.

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